Aarrgg!

This all started because I decided to take Matey to the Banfield Pet Hospital that is associated with PetSmart so that we could reach a vet that had his records as we traveled. I made an appointment for last Saturday at 4:00 PM at the PetSmart in North Spokane, 40 miles from our campground.

It’s not Matey’s fault and the visit went well (except I found out he has a heart murmur that I need to look into). It was after the visit, when we stopped at Walmart just down the street that the fun and games began. Matey and I waited in the truck for Bud to do a bit of shopping. Bud called me because he had forgotten the grocery bags and you have to buy them here if you don’t bring your own. So I shut off the truck and took the bags to him at the front of the store. I got back to the truck, turned the key and nothing happened…nothing.

So I called the roadside assistance number on our insurance card. About a half hour later a Road Warrior arrived. He had this small box that he sat on top of our battery and hooked to the battery terminals. Bud turned the key and the truck started up. The guy shut his device off and the truck stopped. “Uh-oh,” says our Road Warrior, “I think it’s your alternator.” We tried again with the same results. “It’s your alternator.”

Bud noticed the battery terminals were hot and asked if it might be the battery. Nope, it’s the alternator. By now it’s 5:30 on a Saturday evening and all the repair shops are closed so there’s nowhere to tow it. Bud asked the guy if we could just put a battery in it and make it the 40 miles back to Cusick. Wouldn’t work, says the Road Warrior. So he left us to work it out. Called roadside assistance again but they had no solution. Yes, they could arrange a tow back to Cusick, but there might be some out of pocket expense. Never mind that!

A security guy driving around in a truck told Bud he could probably leave it in the parking lot if he let the manager know. So Bud went to see the manager and I found us a car rental still open at the airport. I then called an Uber ride. We had to load our perishables, our essentials and the dog into the Uber car and ride the fifteen miles to the airport. Our very nice driver offered to wait to take our stuff and the dog to the rental, but we didn’t know how long the paperwork would take, so we off-loaded everything onto the sidewalk and then schlepped it past the rental counters and out the back doors to the car. We got a little Kia Forte, which was a nice car. Of course we had to rent the car until at least today since we wouldn’t be able to do anything on Sunday.

This morning, at 5 AM Pacific Time (8 AM Eastern) I called our extended warranty company. No, we didn’t have to take it in to a Toyota dealer, just have the repair shop call with the diagnosis and they would make the arrangements with them. As soon as the shops opened Bud was on the phone. About the fourth place he called said they could probably get to it by Friday (we are scheduled to leave Saturday).

I called our roadside assistance number back to arrange the tow. I explained that we were not at the truck and it would take us about an hour to get there. I asked if they could use the towing company recommended by the garage. She took the number but was very impatient with me. She told me to wait until I got a text confirming the tow. I got that with both the pick-up and drop-off addresses correct.

Meanwhile, I went online and extended our rental until Thursday. $$$$

We jumped in the rental (Matey, too) and took off. In short order I got a text saying Big Jim’s Towing would arrive at 9:45. That was about 15 minutes before we would get there so I called the number they gave, but had to leave a message. Not five minutes later I got a text saying that they were at the location but couldn’t find the vehicle, please check the address followed quickly by a text saying they were there but couldn’t find us and since we hadn’t responded the order was cancelled. I called the reference number only to hear hold music. So I looked up and called Big Jim’s Towing. They were in Oklahoma! And they didn’t get a dispatch and they don’t work with our insurance company.

So I called the company recommended by the auto shop and he arrived within a minute of when we did. Here’s our poor truck loaded and ready to go to the shop. (The roadside assistance people said since I had called a company on my own I would have to contact my agent for reimbursement. OKAY, well thanks!) By the way, Big Jim’s said they’d been dispatched recently to Boston and Frazier, the guy we called, had a pickup in Washington, DC.

Here’s a view of our truck I never wanted to have!

After setting things up with the garage we decided to try to redeem our day with some disc golf. We had transferred the rest of the groceries, Bud’s golf clubs and our discs to the rental car. We found this very nice course nearby.

We didn’t get to play long because the garage called. They’d had a chance to look at the truck and the problem was…A BAD BATTERY!

So back to the garage, switch back our stuff, go online and change the rental car return time again, drive both vehicles to the airport to return the rental when all we needed to do in the first place was walk into Walmart and buy a battery. Aarrgg! We got home at three, which is 5 o’clock Central, but tomorrow I’m calling our insurance agent.